Title : Adsorptive removal of toxic phenol from industrial wastewater to reduce water pollution
Abstract:
Phenol being toxic in nature needs to be removed from industrial wastewater to protect the environment. Among various technologies for phenol removal, adsorption has been considered most popular due to simplicity and lowcost. In this research adsorptive removal of phenol has been investigated using eight adsorbents viz. guava tree bark, rice husk, neem leaves, activated carbon from coconut coir, rice husk ash, red mud, clarified sludge from basic oxygen furnace and activated alumina. The surface characterizations of the adsorbents have been carried out by SEM, XRD, FTIR and BET analyzers. The experimental investigations of phenol removal have been carried out by changing the initial phenol concentration (5-500 mg/L), initial pH (2-12), adsorbent dose (0.10-20 gm/L), temperature (25-50°C) and contact time (30-600 min). The phenol removal percentage was obtained as high as 97.50%. The kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic studies have been incorporated in details to analyze the actual adsorption mechanisms. The innovative ANN modeling have been studied to check the applicability of experimental results in the unknown process conditions in the industry. The scale-up designs have been worked out for using the pilot results for their commercial applications. The safe utilizations of used adsorbents for manufacturing bricks have also been studied for their effectiveness. The regenerations of adsorbents have been studied to meet the supply criticalities of fresh adsorbents. The research concludes that this simple and safe adsorptive removal process of phenol from wastewaters using these low-cost adsorbents is effective for practical applications in several industries and also for creating circular economy in third world countries.
